US-Afghan pact lays future path
Source: Agencies |
March 10, 2012, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
THE US military signed a last-minute agreement yesterday to transfer its main detention center in Afghanistan to Afghan control in six months, a key step toward a long-term pact on a US military presence in the Asian country.
The deal removes a sticking point that had threatened to derail the partnership between the two countries and has been critical to defining the US role as it draws down troops.
Yesterday's agreement extends a deadline set by Afghan President Hamid Karzai for the transfer of some 3,000 Afghan detainees at the Parwan facility, a US-run prison adjoining its Bagram military base outside the capital of Kabul, but also for the first time spells out an American commitment to a hard transfer date.
Under the deal, the US will still have access to Parwan and will be able to block the release of detainees it thinks should continue to be held.
The US and Afghanistan have been in negotiations for months to formalize a role for US forces after NATO's scheduled transfer of security responsibility to the Afghan government at the end of 2014. But talks had stalled over the issues of detainee control and night raids by international forces in Afghan villages.
Under the accord, an Afghan general will take formal charge of Parwan, but a joint US-Afghan commission will decide on any detainee releases.
The joint commission will have to come to a consensus on any such decision, according to US officials involved in the negotiations, a setup that will essentially give US officials power to block any releases they do not agree with.
The officials said the detainees will be transferred to Afghan control gradually over the next six months, with the first 500 expected to be transferred in 45 days. The US government handed over a few hundred detainees to the Afghans previously.
The deal does not apply to the approximately 50 non-Afghans at Parwan, who will remain in US custody.
The officials also said that they still need to work out how new detainees captured on the battlefield will be handled.
The deal removes a sticking point that had threatened to derail the partnership between the two countries and has been critical to defining the US role as it draws down troops.
Yesterday's agreement extends a deadline set by Afghan President Hamid Karzai for the transfer of some 3,000 Afghan detainees at the Parwan facility, a US-run prison adjoining its Bagram military base outside the capital of Kabul, but also for the first time spells out an American commitment to a hard transfer date.
Under the deal, the US will still have access to Parwan and will be able to block the release of detainees it thinks should continue to be held.
The US and Afghanistan have been in negotiations for months to formalize a role for US forces after NATO's scheduled transfer of security responsibility to the Afghan government at the end of 2014. But talks had stalled over the issues of detainee control and night raids by international forces in Afghan villages.
Under the accord, an Afghan general will take formal charge of Parwan, but a joint US-Afghan commission will decide on any detainee releases.
The joint commission will have to come to a consensus on any such decision, according to US officials involved in the negotiations, a setup that will essentially give US officials power to block any releases they do not agree with.
The officials said the detainees will be transferred to Afghan control gradually over the next six months, with the first 500 expected to be transferred in 45 days. The US government handed over a few hundred detainees to the Afghans previously.
The deal does not apply to the approximately 50 non-Afghans at Parwan, who will remain in US custody.
The officials also said that they still need to work out how new detainees captured on the battlefield will be handled.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
